The mile, or its metric equivalent, the 1500m, like many races, tends to unfold in one of three ways: Sometimes it's fast from the gun; other times it goes out kind of slow and finishes at breakneck speed. More often than not, though, it starts pretty quick, settles into a steady rhythm for a good chunk of the race, and finishes in a final flurry. This workout is designed to mimic the latter scenario, breaking 600m reps into three distinct pieces so that you can practice the specific physical and mental demands of such a situation. With generous recovery and a focus on controlled execution, this session is ideal for sharpening race-readiness in the final weeks before competition—but only after a solid foundation of fitness is already in place.
The following workout comes from Jon Green, head coach of the Verde Track Club who guided Molly Seidel to a bronze medal in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. It's essentially an enhanced version of the broken-up tempo run and one of Green's go-to sessions for all the athletes he works with. "This is a sneaky hard workout," Green told me.
The following workout from coach Chris Miltenberg is called "A Little Bit of Everything," a foundational session for milers and 10K runners alike. It starts at threshold pace and ends down around 1-mile pace. The main goal is to reinforce raising intensity throughout.
The following workout from coach Jack Mullaney is a fatigue resistance session that Alex Masai of HOKA NAZ Elite did last fall in his buildup to the Chicago Marathon, where he ran 2:08:51 to finish 9th overall in his debut at the distance. It consists of a tempo run at marathon pace, followed by some 1-mile repeats at 10K pace, followed by another tempo run at marathon pace.
A spin on the "Tempo Plus" and "Hills and a Steady Chill" workouts, this session starts with a set of shorter, quicker intervals and finishes with a tempo run at a steadier effort. It's a great way for marathoners to work on a little turnover while also practicing some race-pace running on not-fresh legs.
Let me know if this situation sounds familiar: You're in no-man's land midway through a half-marathon or marathon. Or maybe you've been towing a group for several miles and none of the other runners in it want to help out with the pace. There's a good-sized pack about 10 seconds down the road but they're not really pulling away anymore. What do you do? If you want to ride that wave's momentum and take advantage of the collective energy in front of you, you need to make a move and surge ahead. The Surging Mile Repeats workout is a session designed to help give you the fitness and confidence to do just that.
I've always believed that to run your best half-marathon you should be in really good 10K shape—and if you're in ripping 10K shape, you should be able to run a really good half-marathon. There's a lot of overlap in the type of work required for success in both, specifically when it comes to longer intervals and tempo runs. This workout, which is designed to be repeated a few times over the course of a training block, combines these two essential training elements and can be manipulated any number of ways depending on what you want to get out of it.
Marathon season will soon be upon us and improving your ability to run for longer at goal race effort/pace is probably top of mind. The "2 By" marathon long run is one of my favorite ways to introduce some running at goal race effort/pace into the mix and then extend the amount of time you spend there over the course of a 12-16 week cycle as fitness and confidence both improve.
This effort-based workout is a great early to mid-season season session when you're still fortifying your fitness foundation and neither pace nor specificity are key concerns.
